I caught up with Ryan Cochrane as the Quakes held their last practice at Stanford Stadium before heading down to L.A. for Thursday’s game.  The April 3rd match is the season opener for the Earthquakes, and marks the return of the fiercest rivalry in Major League Soccer.  Ryan Cochrane is the lone returnee from the 2005 Earthquakes team which was relocated to Houston.  

ASR: Can you tell us how you ended up back in San Jose?

RC: It was three days before the final game, and I got a call from Dom Kinnear. He asked me if I would like to go back to San Jose. I said I’d love to go back, I’d love to stay here as well. He told me that they were going to leave me unprotected in the expansion draft, which I was OK with. I still didn’t know what was going to happen. Obviously, San Jose had a lot of choices of who to take, and there were a lot of good players around the league who were left on the expansion list. At that point, going into the championship match last year I knew there was a chance I was going to be in San Jose next year, which was a strange feeling. A couple of days after the final, I was flying from Houston back to my hometown, Portland. I turned on my phone once we landed and I had a ton of text messages from buddies and everybody saying “congrats”, but nobody said what the “congrats” was for. So i called my girlfriend, and she was scurrying through the MLS website but couldn’t find what she was looking for. Then I called one of my buddies, and he told me what happened: that I got picked first in the expansion draft. So at that point I was real thrilled to get back. I love the Bay Area. I went to college here, and it’s kind of my second home. Just to be back with an organization that has a rich tradition of success, and obviously this group is a great group to be with. I’m real excited about it. 

ASR: You were part of the 2004 and 2005 Earthquakes teams. Obviously it was traumatic for the fans when the team was relocated. How was it as a player to be relocated?

RC: I think I can pretty much speak for all the players that went to Houston, that they were pretty much crushed. None of the players wanted to go. You saw that the whole last season [2005]. We brought out a banner one time before a game that said “Keep Us In San Jose”. The players were really trying to fight, to do anything they could and keep any hope alive that the Earthquakes would stay here. We had a lot of great fans try to keep us here as well. We loved the city, and just to go down to a new place was tough. The only thing that was a savior in the whole thing was that we got to keep that same group together. You saw that that group was one that stuck together through tough times, always being the “B” team under AEG. L.A. is kind of their baby team. A lot of guys felt that we always got the short end of the stick, and that’s what gave us the chip on our shoulder. It was a tough move for everybody, but if you look back, it worked out with a couple of championships. It’s too bad that we couldn’t do it here, but I’m just glad to be back. 

ASR: Obviously there are a lot of similarities, but how do you compare the coaching styles of Frank Yallop and Dominic Kinnear?

RC: They’re very similar. Trainings are almost identical. So for me that’s been great, having the same trainings for the past four years. It’s not a big change for me. Frank’s very laid back, very much a player’s coach. Dom’s very laid back and a player’s coach as well. But you can get a little more freedom with Frank, Dom’s a very fiery guy. He’s very in-your-face as far as what he expects from you and your role in the team. Frank’s someone who does that subtly and will pull you aside and tell you what he expects. 

ASR: How do you compare this squad to the Earthquakes and Dynamo teams that you have been a part of?

RC: It’s different but there’s the same dynamic. Everything’s been shuffled, and we’ve been two months in preseason right now. We’re still practicing in Stanford right now, we don’t have a stadium yet, and we’re using the Santa Clara locker rooms. But it’s a bit of the same dynamic as back then where you feel like everything is being shuffled around and you’re not exactly where you should be just yet, but Frank and John Doyle have brought in guys who are not going to moan and complain about things but are just going to do the business and get to work everyday. That is a good thing for team chemistry. It helps that we’re a pretty young team, but we still have guys who have had experience in this league, and those guys are team guys. Everybody’s working for each other, and that’s the same mentality of the Houston and previous San Jose teams. 

ASR: You’re 24 and you already have two championships. Are there personal goals that you’re still pursuing?

RC: Oh yeah, I’m trying to fill up all the fingers with some rings. It doesn’t look that good. It’d look a little better with three rings or four rings. Nah, I mean, every year it’s different. You want the same thing. It’s amazing, you think that desire to get another ring would be less after you’ve won two or that it wouldn’t be a big deal if you don’t win. But every year it’s the same thing: I want another. I know for me, the reason I play, is because I hate to lose. I hate being beat. That’s what drives me and everybody on this team. Our goal right now is to get out from under that expansion shadow. As an expansion team, we’re not going to get very much respect around this league until we start proving it. It’s on us to do it. 

ASR: Thursday’s game means the renewal of the San Jose - L.A. rivalry. What are your thoughts heading into the game?

RC: We’re confident. We had a great preseason and had a lot of good results. I think we came a long way in two months. We have a long ways further to go. Guys who haven’t really been here, who don’t know about the San Jose - L.A. rivalry, they’ll learn quickly, and we’ve been warning them about it. That, I don’t want to say hatred, but it kind of is, for L.A. has never gone away for me, even when I was in Houston. And I know those guys in Houston feel the same way about L.A. as they did when they were in San Jose. So it’s going to be fun, it’s going to be heated, it’s going to be a battle. Obviously they have a lot of attention on them with Beckham and with their new coach and all that. It’s kind of the David vs. Goliath thing right now and we love that role for us. 

ASR: Now for the party game question, what player, past or present, would you most like to play with?

RC: Honestly, I would love for Troy Dayak to come back. That guy is like nobody else, no one that I have ever met. He’s a character and he’s the fiercest competitor that I’ve ever been around. I know he was one of the fan favorites here in San Jose, but I think it would be sweet if Troy came back and rounded up the cavalry like a good old cowboy. I love Troy Dayak. 

ASR: Thanks for your time. Have a great season.

RC: Thank you. 

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